A few non-fiction series we’ve been enjoying in our home.
Written by Dana Meachen Rau, the Bookworms Tools We Use series covers a wide range of professions, from doctors and EMTs to artists, builders, and librarians. The photographs and short sentences held my daughter’s attention well, and she likes learning more about grown-up professions. These books would also be a good choice for a beginning reader.
Robin Nelson’s First Step Nonfiction books are great science books for a toddler or a beginning reader. Each page has a picture accompanied by a short sentence. Each book also has a few extra facts at the end of the book, where I learned a few science facts I didn’t know!
Acetate transparency pages grab children’s attention in the Scholastic First Discovery series. My family discovered these books while living in France, where they were brand new releases (by Gallimard jeunesse) nearly twenty years ago. The books fascinated me as a nine-year-old, although my parents purchased the books for one of my younger siblings. The target age range is 0-7 years for the French editions or 4-8 for the English editions. The books are identical as far as I can tell, so the age recommendations must be culturally-based. Both Johnny (16 months) and Emma (3) thoroughly enjoy looking at these books. I still have one of my family’s original French books, and I was thrilled to find English versions for sale in the US!
What non-fiction books do your children enjoy?
